


Knights of Ren

by WabiSabi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Character, Blind Character, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Friends, Disabled Character, Fix-It of Sorts, Force Bond (Star Wars), Friendship, Gen, Kylo Ren Redemption, Minor Leia Organa/Han Solo, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character(s), Original Knights of Ren - Freeform, Self-Insert, but only in the sense that someone from our world falls into star wars, by which I mean the Knights of Ren´s comics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:22:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24193522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WabiSabi/pseuds/WabiSabi
Summary: The Knights of Ren are Kylo´s followers,hisloyal soldiers. Not, to the displeasure of Snoke and General Hux, from the First Order. Meaning that when the story finally starts and Kylo begins his journey back to the Light Side, he might have more allies than expected. And who knows? Maybe that will help change the end.That´s what Sun is counting on, at least.(Or where a young, blind man is pulled into the Star Wars universe and befriends the one and only Kylo Ren when he was still known as Ben Solo. But his stay is not exactly... permanent. Or something like that. So he decides to stick around the kid, to see if he perhaps can help change his end as per the movies.But of course, things aren´t that simple.)
Relationships: Knights of Ren & Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren & Original Female Character(s), Kylo Ren & Original Male Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Knights of Ren

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is not actually SI but rather an OC that I created.
> 
> The idea for this was born from my pure disappointment with how they spun the Knights of Ren´s story, both in the movies and in the comics. I was just so pumped the first time I heard about them but in the end, they are not even really Kylo´s, he just took the position of their leader. Bah.
> 
> So I decided to give my personal spin of the Knights of Ren. Therefore, although their weapons and clothes are the same as in the movies and comics, they are entirely original characters.

_MANA REN_

There are many times when SunYi will happily, and without a hint of shame, take advantage of people´s prejudices. The whole ' _poor blind man lets go easy on him'_ patronizing deal. Which– well, if it gets under _Mana's_ skin, he can't imagine how it must be for SunYi himself. Therefore, he usually indulges or at least tolerates the swordsman’s antics when this kind of thing crops up.

Until the moment it lands him in jail. In some backwater town in some backwater planet that no one cares about, sure. With the kind of security they’d normally bypass without effort… _if_ they weren't making a point of avoiding civil causalities and public damages.

Without mentioning they were forced to leave their weapons behind.

 _'It's a stealth mission_ ’, Hux said. ‘ _There's no need for that_.’

Mana’d think the general was behind this whole thing if it hadn’t been painfully obvious who in fact was at fault.

"I'm gonna kill him."

Mana sighs.

He could have forgiven the swordsman's actions if it wasn´t for the fact it was a mission with his sister. Because Maith in a mood is already bad enough. Maith with a _grudge_ is a nightmare to everyone around her.

“I'm gonna fucking feed him his own balls!”

_Clang!_

Mana winces, glancing away from his book. Across the cell, the small steel bench bolted on the wall hangs unsteady, with a boot-shaped bulge in the middle— his sister is already ramming her feet down again. _Clang!_ The bench cracks against the floor, ripped from its rightful place by brute force, and manages a single outraged bounce before- _clang_ _!_ She kicks it and the bench flies against the wall.

Mana, sitting on the floor as he is, looks at it with some regret. It didn’t exactly look comfy, but it would have been a little better than the ground. He dares not comment, however, as his sister needs to work off her anger in some way. And a metal board is a better sacrifice than Mana himself, who is not in the mood to spar. Not with someone who doesn´t how to take it easy.

"Hey, cut it out!"

Maith pivots with such a violence that the guard stumbles back, fumbling with his blaster to point at her. Seeming to have forgotten about the energy barrier between them. “B-back off!” he shouts.

Maith _snarls_ , fingers spread apart and curled into claws and tight-draw shoulders – between the black Knight uniform and the shock of short disheveled white hair, she bears vivid resemblance to a strange, wild animal about to strike. And the guard seems to agree, as he quickly retreats back two more steps and then loads the blaster to kill.

Mana's amusement _halts_.

He carefully stills any movement, eyes intent on the guard. "Maith," he calls, keeping his voice mild.

Her jaw works, he can see the muscles jumping. There’s a brief, too long second where he doesn't blink: he gauges the distance between his sister and him and calculates the strength necessary to push her off the way and his speed versus of a nervous man’s finger and whatever the metal bench could survive transpassing the barrier and what angle would better pierce that man’s sternum if he _dares shoot his sister_ —

Maith growls, her face still twisted in a scowl of hatred. But her upper lip lowers, covering her teeth and canines, and she takes a slow step back. She raises her hands, palms up.

Mana doesn't relax until the guard, after a tense second, lowers the blaster. “That's what I thought,” he says, words and tone trying very hard to be cocky.

Then he turns and more or less bolts away as fast as possible without being outright running.

Mana settles back on the wall. “You better not eat the next ration they bring, unless you like spit,” he says, pretending to go back to his book. He turns a page, having no idea what was on it. "Or worse."

Maith makes a disgusted sound and turns to the ex-bench. She brings her foot down again – the metal screeches in a burst of high-pitched noise and the dent disappears, effectively returning it to its original configuration. She huffs, annoyed, and goes back to pacing around like a caged animal.

Mana throws a glance at the cell’s window, a rectangle cut in the concrete and no larger than his book, also protected by an energy barrier. From where he’s sitting closest to the exit, all he can see is the darkening sky – he makes a rough estimation of the time. Matching it with his internal clock: it has been two hours and sixteen minutes since they were arrested. SunYi most likely already infiltrated the archives by now.

His attention flies back to his sister when she suddenly stops in front of the barrier, hands away from her body.

One, two heartbeats

And then he decides to risk. “You're gonna hurt yourself if you do that,” he says carefully.

She jerks her head, like swatting off an annoying fly.

 _Wrong. Okay_.

“You're gonna damage your equipment.”

At this, she doesn't react. _Right track._

“You just got this armor, they won't replace it if you break it again,” he tries again.

Maith snorts. "Yes, they will."

 _Yes, they will_ , he yields. As if they would risk leaving a Knight without armor. Mana shifts against the wall, resting the book on his lap. “Our supervisors-”

“Our _supervisors_ ,” she interrupts and Mana lets her, having acknowledged how weak the argument was from the moment he thought of it, “are meant to help avoid this kind of _crap_ in the first place. If they weren't a bunch of wusses who can’t wait to wiggle their asses every time that dickhead wants something, we wouldn't have to put up with _half_ of _this daily shit_ _!_ ”

“We gotta follow orders-”

Wrong thing to say, he realizes half a second too late. Maith _screams_ in rage and grabs the metal bench and _stabs_ the energy barrier. He immediately throws his arms around his head and twists away. Sparks fly wildly, electricity shrieking a second before- _BOOM!_

Heat engulfs his body with an explosion of blinding light even to his closed eyes, seeping through his eyelids. There is a loud _clang!_ and the smell of burnt metal burns his lungs on the next breath, coating his throat and leaving a bitter taste at the back of his throat. Mana uncurls from the floor and turns to his sister, a scold at the tip of his tongue – and then he sees the hole hovering in the middle of the barrier, closing slowly. Mana startles, swiftly rolls to his feet. Maith is already stepping forward. She sticks her arm through the hole, reaching for the panel on the left side of the cell.

He approaches to recite the password he saw the guard typing earlier to open the cubicle. But his sister digs her nails into the edge of the panel and _yanks_ it out. It bends like ripping off an animal's skin, sparks exploding in protest and wires snapping apart as it slowly peels off. Mana winces at the brutality as Maith pulls her arm back and tosses the panel on the floor without care. The barrier shakes like a flag in the wind once, twice, and then dissolves to the sides.

“I don't answer to those bastards,” she spits out and immediately steps out of the cell.

Security lights ignite across the ceiling. An alarm wails throughout the prison and most likely the entire building. Mana sighs once, rubbing his neck and the future ache he can already feel building up there. He still steps over the charred remains of the bench and stops behind his sister, content to turn to the other exit door as she turns to the main one. They both ignore the movements in the other cells as the prisoners shout and jeer.

A second later and both doors slide open, and guards flow in like an avalanche of ants.

Another day in their lives.

-

“Welcome back- _furgh!_ ”

Mana winces, lowering his hand from his attempt to warn of the oncoming danger. His sister removes her hand from where she _punched_ her helmet against el-Dew's stomach. The poor boy bends in half with the impact, his air bursting out in a painful wheeze. She marches past him without dignifying the kid with a single glance, boots snapping against the polished ground and her furious expression in plain sight.

“ _Where’s SunYi?!”_

Her roar shakes the walls. Or perhaps it's the poor troopers scrambling to get out of her way as fast as possible. His sister storms through the door without waiting.

In second thought, el-Dew kind of got away rather unscathed.

Mana stops beside the younger man, patting him on the shoulder. “Sorry about that, kiddo. She's in a bit of a mood right now.” The boy is still bent, clutching the helmet over the stomach while gasping and coughing, the sound coming out weird through the mouth filter.

Mana grabs the boy by the elbow and helps him straighten up, taking his sister's helmet from his hands. He watches both worried and amused as el-Dew hacks, wheezing out an answer. “N-... no problem, sir. I was- I was in the way.”

Mana shakes his head. "Don't that, D."

"S-sir?"

“First of all, I told you to drop the _sir_ , you're a Knight now. We all have the same rank.” He slides his arm over the boy's shoulders and pulls him along as he walks. “Second, what I told you about Maith?”

“That I s-should never take her on a fight unless there’s someone nearby that can intervene when I try to wield?”

Mana laughs, shaking his head. _Kid sure took notes_. “And?”

The boy swallows, fingers inside shiny, new gloves twisting together. “I- I don’t-...”

Mana shakes him gently. “That she only respects people who stand up to her.”

“Oh.”

“You’re a Knight of Ren now, kiddo. And you don’t get here without having proved your worth and skill, so don’t be afraid of demanding respect. If you tell her to stop, she’ll.”

“I- I don’t think I can do that, sir,” el-Dew says quietly, shoulders slumping in defeat, “with all due respect, y-your sister- Maith Ren is terrifying, sir.”

Mana laughs again and pats the kid’s shoulders as the doors slide open before them. “It’s all about getting used to her, I promise. After that, she’s not that scaring.”

With the helmet on, el-Dew's expression is hidden, but something in the boy’s way screams ' _I doubt that_ '. Heavenly restrained out of manners, of course. Mana decides to leave the matter alone, for now, knowing the futility of insisting. Only time would prove if el-Dew has the capacity to assimilate into the Knights – all with, let’s say, _remarkable_ personalities (his sister falling in a more extreme variant of their spectrum) – or if in the end, he will have to be transferred. After all, it had only been the five of them and their Master for years. A sixth inclusion was… unexpected.

He lets his arm slip from the boy's shoulders when they enter the ship's briefing room. Adjusting his posture to something more militarily-approved, he feels el-Dew doing the same. The shy boy from before withdrawing inside the warrior's facade.

After all, they have an image to maintain.

His eyes scan the room out of habit, absorbing the scene in a few seconds. The opposite wall is all reinforced, thick glass, the forest outside an invading spill of colors. Scenic, and yet incongruous when framed by the black and grey panels of the walls and floor, polished to an industrial shine. A long table draws the attention as the central piece, welded to the floor, with spinning chairs distributed symmetrically to each side. Almost none of them occupied at the moment. Mana flicks his eyes to the officers flocking in the farther corner, their terror like a taste in the air. Then turns to the commotion assaulting his ears since the second the doors opened.

His sister has a memorable voice. And not at all delicate.

“-can shove your ‘safety protocols’ up your ass! Call that motherfucker here right now or I swear-!”

“Maith.”

She yanks her attention towards him with a bellow. “ _What!?_ ” She has her fist wrapped around the poor officer 's collar cornered against the table, looking two seconds away from fainting. el-Dew squeaks on his side and takes a discreet step behind him. “Knock it down a little, would you? My ears are still ringing from the explosions,” he says, the calm tone filtered by the helmet into something more emotionless.

He is not a fan of this effect, but its influence is undeniable. The whole room turns to him for a moment, a fracture in their before very... vigilant attention.

 _Another one is here_ , says the uneasiness.

“So fucking what-”

“Please.”

Maith interrupts the growl, a pause. Then grows, baring teeth, but releases the ship's captain with a rough shove. The man fumbles, shoes squeaking on the floor when he slips down for a second before he manages to latch on the table. Maith takes two steps back and grabs her hips, like a child sulking at being told to behave.

The flare of fondness would be designed as absurd by most.

He approaches Maith, el-Dew a step back in still instinctive deference. He stops alongside her, shoulder to shoulder, and offers her the helmet. She makes a point of her dissatisfaction with a five-seconds standstill, then grabs it one-handed and hefts over her head. The locks hiss before clicking shut. She then crosses her arms, glaring pointedly away from him. And Mana accepts it, turning to the captain at last.

The still pale man adjusts his uniform with all the dignity he has remaining.

Mana smiles, wry. "Captain, what’s the mission’s status?" he asks, voice deliberately soft.

The man looks at him at once, snapping a salute. “The distraction was a success, sir. Knight SunYi Ren managed to infiltrate the archives and download the pertinent data. He’s currently disengaging from the enemy and making his way back to the ship.”

“How long until he gets here?” he inquires over Maith’s grumbles of ‘ _distraction my ass_ ’ and ‘ _fucking up the plan_ ’.

“He last reported being on Ravabanise Avenue with one convoy in pursuit, sir. We estimate 30 minutes.”

Mana tilts his head, making the mental calculations. Hums. “Start the preparations, we leave in 10,” he says and turns, waving for el-Dew and Maith to follow him back to the hallway.

“B- but sir, Ravabanise Avenue alone is at least 15 minutes away from here!”

Mana chuckles within the confines of his helmet. “Ten minutes, captain. Not a second later," he tosses over the shoulder before walking through the doors with two pairs of footsteps close behind. There is a bustle of movement ahead as the troopers once again get out of the way, the reverberations on the ground from their hasty escape not unlike a dust cloud raised by a horde of romp rats running at the first sign of a storm. And this time he knows that it is not just because of his sister.

Three Knights in full gear is an intimidating sight, after all.

His sister catches up to him, head still turned away. Mana doesn't comment.

"SunYi Ren can really make in ten minutes?" el-Dew pipes in from behind, awed.

Maith twitches like a hound sprayed with water. Mana turns to the younger man. “He’d be crushed with your lack of faith,” he says amused and gestures for the boy to join them. It takes a moment for him to understand and another, even longer, to obey. He fidgets his fingers as he corrects his pacing until they are walking side-by-side.

"Fucking show-off," Maith growls, the leather of her gloves creaking when she clenches her fists. “There’s absolutely no fucking tactical value in sending the guy who can’t fucking _see_ to collect data from a goddamn _computer_.”

Mana raises an eyebrow no one can see. "You think he can't do it?"

“That’s not the _fucking point_! He thinks he can get away with whatever shit he does because no one dares to say ‘no’ to ‘Lord Kylo’s Right-Hand’! That was _our_ mission and he fucking stole it!”

Mana cannot help but find it ironic. He concedes that SunYi has a tendency to do whatever he wants within the established parameters of any mission. Which, as in most cases missions are given by their Master whose tolerance for politics is as small as his temperament, comprise of instructions that regardless of how layed out, can be summed up in a simple ‘ _go do this and don’t fail’_. The finer details are passed on to them by General Hux or some other superior, the _don’t_ s and _do_ s. The huge _however_ is that, in technical terms, the Knights of Ren are not part of the First Order and exist outside of their ranks. So, in technical terms, they don’t need to heed its commands.

If some of them do, it’s out of a sense of collaboration.

The rest tend to grab their Master’s simplistic, scant orders and go wild. The fact that Kylo does not care about the _how_ s and _why_ s or about the damages piled along the way as long as they do what he ordered them to do, _without_ bringing him any problems, means they mostly get away with this behavior. There’re few who are brave enough to try to scold a Knight, after all.

The ironic part is this ‘ _they’_ mainly means SunYi… _and_ Maith.

Mana wonders about this sanctimoniousness when not even a few hours ago she so aggressively declared that she does not take orders from their First Order’s supervisors. Without a doubt, it is willful and conscious of itself. But he decides not to bring up the topic and simply nods on their way to the boarding hangar, allowing his sister her rant.

-

Five minutes after they arrived at the site and ten since Mana gave the order to take off, the engines are whirring and the preparations are done. Maith, el-Dew and he are loitering near the entrance, watching the lieutenant give the order to close the boarding ramp.

el-Dew makes an anxious sound on his side. Maith huff, tapping on the blaster strapped to her thigh. "Fucking _peacock_ , swear to the Force," she mumbles under her breath.

Mana smiles in the secrecy of his helmet.

Abruptly, a commotion erupts among the troopers in charge of the guard. And then a dark blur leaps through the remaining space before the ramp finishes closing and Mana has no time to issue a warning before the soldiers start firing, sudden shouting taking over the commlink.

_"-intruder is-!"_

_"-Something got in-"_

_"Get here-!"_

The figure twists mid-air and hits against the ceiling, a loud bang on metal and they bounce to the floor. The nearest trooper leaps back shouting, half a second too late bringing his blaster up. The person spins and the gun is kicked away. The soldier stumbles backward in the impact, but they are rolling on the ground and tackling him down. Shots fly over the two.

Mana seizes el-Dew's wrist when the boy instinctively goes to his blaster and shakes his head when he looks at him in surprise. Maith crosses her arms and the way she throws her weight on one leg makes him think that his sister is rolling her eyes.

When he looks back, the second trooper is falling forward with a yelp, helmet snapping against the floor, the intruder is raising from where they rolled against her legs. They snatch the soldier’s blaster mid-fall and spin over the heels, a blaster shot passing over their shoulder. Human hand snaps forward, pointed the firearm at the last guard. " _Freeze!_ " They- he screams and the hood around his face has fallen back and he’s smiling.

The soldier freezes, finger on the trigger. And then jerks back as if had been punched, dropping the blaster as if it was on fire. "Sir, SunYi Ren, sir!" he cries out, terrified, throwing his arms up.

SunYi laughs and lowers the blaster. He shakes his long black hair, droplets of water flies everywhere, before pushing the soaked strands away from his face. He is wet from head to toe, wearing an atrocious combination of a beige tunic and black pants with ragged and colorful cloths on top, not unlike a beggar attempting to fend off the cold. "Good job, Kywo, last man standing," he says cheerfully, his face slightly turned to the floor. He takes a step to the side and turns on his heels, causing an unpleasant squeak on the metal floor. Offers his hand to the fallen trooper. “Sorry about that. And for stealing your blaster.”

The stormtrooper makes a strangled sound and hurries to her feet without grabbing SunYi's hand, immediately saluting. “Sir, SunYi Ren, sir! Forgive our insolence for shooting at you, sir!”

The sole survivor quickly copies her and the tackled trooper almost trips on his hurry to get up and do the same, two shouted apologies echoing one after the other. High-pitched and terrified. SunYi tilts his head towards the other stormtroopers, still smiling. “Nah, don’t worry about it. You guys were just doing your job. Here.” Whirling the blaster in his hand with expertise, the man offers it back with the grip facing the woman, who hesitantly accepts. "You gotta work on that stance, tho."

"Sir?" She gulps down.

Following the path of her arm from where both are still holding the same weapon, SunYi finally puts his hand on her on the shoulder, and gives her a pat of companionship. He then releases the weapon and, at last, turns to their direction, if not exactly _at_ them. His head tilts sideways, brown eyes open as he reorients himself in the boarding hangar, for all that he walks with confident steps towards the corridor with a hand slightly stretched forward. Leaving a trail of water behind him.

"Where’s your cane?" Mana asks.

"Lost it in the river," SunYi replies. He doesn't sound surprised to hear his voice, but then again, he never does. The younger man adjusts his path towards them, boots scraping across the metal floor.

Mana raises an eyebrow, looking at his soaked clothes. "River?"

He grins, boyish. “One of the guards managed to push me into the violent waters of the Talu river. I drowned in mere seconds. It was all so very terrible. My body and the stolen chip may never be found.”

Mana just shakes his head. “So, you got the data-”

He is interrupted by Maith's furious roar and the woman launches her fist against SunYi's face without warning. el-Dew squeaks in alarm, but the swordsman dips back and avoids the punch. His hand flies up and deflects the kick that follows, boots screeching on the wet floor when he is forced to retreat.

“Maith! May I say you look just _so_ lovely today?”

“Eat shit, you whore!” There is a violent _clang!_ and a dent appears on the wall where the brunette's head had been, Maith's fist receding without pause.

“Now, that’s no way to welcome a friend! I know you must be a little miffed about earlier-”

_“Go deepthroat a cactus!”_

“-but I'm sure we can work out our differences in a pacific way-”

Maith snarls and SunYi yelps when she almost manages to grab him by one of several cloths wrapped around his torse. The man handspring backward and his boots smack on the ground before he lets the momentum knock him over onto his back, Maith's leg swiping over him and missing by an inch. His sister spins with the motion and changes the feet on the floor in an instant. The other boot comes down in a crash— but SunYi is already rolling over his shoulder and then he suddenly disappears. Mana startles, caught off guard by the sight of an open maintenance entrance he hadn't noticed before.

There is the muffled sound of footsteps coming from under the floor.

Maith hurdles into the entrance. “Stop running, spineless bastard! Face me like a warrior!” She howls indignantly.

"No, thank you!"

The shouting and the sounds of chasing fades away. And Mana sends a prayer for any technician that might be working on internal maintenance right now.

"Shouldn’t- shouldn’t we stop them?"

He looks at el-Dew, who at some point during the fight grabbed his blaster and it fidgeting with it with nervous hands. Mana smiles. If he had not personally witnessed what that boy is capable of, it would be now that he’d start wondering what the hell he was doing wearing a Knight’s uniform. “Let them play a little. SunYi will make sure they don't break anything too important,” he says mild, and feels no need to add that some low-cost damage to the ship is a sacrifice he doesn't mind doing, for the sake of calming his sister in time for them to retire to sleep.

el-Dew hesitates but puts the blaster back in the holster after a moment. Mana pats him on the shoulder. The advantage, he reflects, of being known as the ‘ _good twin’_ is that people tend not to be suspicious of him.

“C’mon. The mission is over, let’s take a break.”

The boy nods and the two leave.

-

“SunYi Ren pretended to be bullied by- by Maith Ren and you, sir?”

Mana nods, amused by the _shock_ in the younger man’s voice. “He can be very convincing when he wants to.”

“And they just- arrested you both? Without any sort of investigation?”

Mana pauses in the process of removing his gloves, giving el-Dew a curious glance for the indignancy ringing in his voice. “Well, Maith _had_ just punched him in front of a ton of witness, while he was looking like a blind homeless man,” he replies, watching the boy for a moment longer. He can´t say which part of the story led to this reaction: their barely legal arrestment or SunYi general predicament. Him being an ex-trooper, it’d a fair assumption to guess it’s more about SunYi.

el-Dew doesn’t answer right away, standing beside the door just shy of being in military parade rest. The difference being his head hanging forward a little, as if deep in thought.

After a moment, he asks. “And they just… took him to the archives?”

“Hm, to the public hospital. Which it’s connected to the Law District, where there are terminals with access to their high-level security archives.”

el-Dew exhales through the helmet.

Well. Risk ‘ _probably’_. That definitely sounded awed.

Mana thinks about bringing attention once more to the insistent use of ‘sir’, but in the end, decides to leave the boy to his manners for the time being. Military discipline isn’t something someone can overcome in a matter of days, after all, even more when one goes overnight from private to the equivalent of lieutenant-general (even if, _again_ , the Knights are not part of the First Order ranking). He finishes removing both gloves and throws them over the small center table, before reaching for the clasps on his neck. There’s the familiar hiss of depressurizing air and then Mana tilts his head, letting the helmet slide off onto his hands.

He lets out a sigh, cracking his neck in an attempt to work out the tension in his muscles. Far from being uncomfortable or stifling, removing the helmet still always seems to relax something within Mana. Perhaps it’s the symbolic transition between formal and informal, and the right to loosen up.

Or perhaps it’s because humans weren’t made to walk with a bucket over their heads.

He places the helmet by the gloves before stepping back and throwing himself back onto the long white sofa, relaxing against the soft cushions. He glances back at the boy, noticing his visor is turned to his direction.

“You can take off your helmet. If you want to.”

el-Dew jolts. “S-sir?” He squeaks, sounding a bit guilty. Ah, staring?

Mana waves towards his own bare face and then lets his hand fall behind the sofa. “Unless during missions, we are allowed to take our helmet off whenever we want. I’ll just ask you to avoid doing it in public since our identities are kept secret for a good reason.”

The kid shuffles awkwardly in that way troopers do in front of a superior – _meaning_ : he doesn’t move in the sense that absolutely none of his muscles even twitch. Yet, something definitely changes in the way he holds himself. Nervous and unsettled.

“I…”

“That wasn’t an order, by the way. Since I can’t give you orders,” he says mildly, throwing an ankle over the other. “Just relax, kiddo. This is a ‘relaxing’ moment. Enjoy it. They are rare.”

He closes his eyes, so he doesn’t see the moment it happens. But, passed a few seconds, he hears the sound the hiss of latches and he rolls his head to the side in time to see el-Dew removing the helmet. He quickly straightens up, shoulders gathered together, and _Jesus._ Mana knows that the kid is young ( _hence_ ‘kid’), but he still can’t avoid a certain startlement when confronted with a face that can´t be much older than Yesnorin, even though it´s the second time he sees the boy without a helmet. And Yesnorin is a _baby_ , rounded face that barely can be considered of a grown-up at least to Mana´s eyes.

el-Dew with his 21 years, he decides, isn´t much better.

He holds his bright new helmet against the chest. His eyes are so green that Mana can see from where he´s sitting, flickering around fretfully. Red hair mussed at odd angles. Not wanting to be perceived as patronizing, though, he´s careful to not let his thoughts visible in his face as he waves the kid closer.

el-Dew hesitates, looking from him to the sofa and back to him a few more times. The boy approaches like a wary small animal. He sits all prim and proper, with his ass at the edge of the seat and his back making an excellent impersonation of a board. He rests the helmet over the thighs with the care and reverence worth of a crown, before curling his hands around it as if expecting someone to try to rip it off from him at any second. And looks up ahead at last, shoulders in a perfectly straight line.

In short, he looks as stress-free and relaxed as when he was by the door.

Mana sighs. Well, one step at the time. He _did_ get him to take off the helmet and sit, after all. As far as his progress has been in these past few days in making the boy loosen up a bit, he’ll call it a win-

The door slides open and el-Dew jumps to his feet, helmet almost flying from his grasp. He pivots in a jolt and snaps his boots together, saluting.

“M-a’am! Sir!”

Mana sags, defeated.

“Pipe the fuck down!” Maith roars back and the boy flinches with a squeak.

Mana opens one eye to watch his sister stomping into the room, helmet already off. Frown on her face, but that’s normal. Her chin raised and her shoulders relaxed, though, not so much, and his eyes fall on the purple splashing over the curve of her jaw, as well notice the slight limp on her left leg. Ankle? No, higher. Knee. Not troubling enough to be more than annoying, it seems. Mana squishes the instinct to go offer his help, knowing it would only serve to piss off Maith.

He makes himself stay relaxed. “Had fun?”

She scowls at him and marches towards to sonic refresher, chucking the helmet on one of the armchairs. It bounces off the upholstered seat and rolls to the ground with a dull thud, as the door slides closed behind the woman.

“She’s going to need a new one at this rate.”

Mana leans forward and grabs the helmet from the floor. Tossing it up once on one hand, he absently takes note of any weight unbalance and then starts looking for frailties in the outer protection with his fingers. “Are we going to drop mid-fly?” he inquires SunYi, wobbling into the room.

The man laughs once and wince, an arm hugging the right side of his body. Displaying, Mana notices, a spectacular black eye and a cut on the lower lip, blood smeared on his chin. “I learned my lesson about avoiding the engine rooms after the first time,” he says a little breathless and waves el-Dew away when the boy jumps forward to help him. “Hey now, none of that. Go enjoy your break, D.”

“But-”

“Don’t make the blind man repeat himself.”

The kid immediately sits down at that. Mana shakes his head, sighing. SunYi limps to the nearest armchair and carefully lowers himself on it after feeling it a bit to find the edge of the seat. He grimaces with a small grunt of pain. “Ow, ow- by the Force, your sister does not know the meaning of ‘taking easy’, does she?”

“Stop riling her up so much and that might happen.”

“But it’s so much fun.”

“And you ask for my sympathy. You do realize she and I are sharing quarters?”

SunYi waves his hand, dismissive. “You two shared a womb.”

“Yes, and the reason I was born first is probably because she kicked me out of it. I’m sorry, man, but I’m not taking your punches for you.”

The man laughs, or giggles would be the better descriptor, between the hisses and winces of pain. Mana would think him high in adrenaline or even drunk (wouldn’t be the first time). But the truth is that this brazen unconcern it’s the usual default setting of this man. So, he shakes his head again and settles back on the sofa, his sister helmet on his lap as he tries fixing a dent in the mouth protection. One of the guards from earlier who got a lucky punch, if he recalls.

el-Dew stares between the two, green eyes wide like discs.

“Do- do you want me to call medical, sir?”

“Let him rot in pain,” Maith says and he turns to see his sister striding back from the fresher. She stops in front of the center table, a little to his right. She crosses her arms without giving him a single glance, but she also doesn´t tear the helmet off his hands.

Letting her loose on SunYi might not have been the nicest move, but it certainly worked.

“From love comes pain,” SunYi says sagely.

Maith makes a sound of disgust.

Seeing where this is going, Mana interrupts placidly. “We should call Lorde Kylo about the good news.”

The change in the atmosphere is subtle but instantaneous. Maith huffs and turns to snatch her helmet that Mana had already raised in an offer a second before, putting it back. Mana follows her example as she backs away enough for him to reach the table, and then he stands up with a grunt. el-Dew, having hopped to his feet the instant their Master´s name came out of his mouth, advances over the table´s communication panel while fumbling to put his own helmet back on. “The private line, or the official one, sir?” the boy squeaks.

Before Mana can answer, SunYi pipes in from the armchair. He hasn’t moved except for a slight tilt of his head towards them, eyelids dropping low. “Private. Let’s give our dearest lord the pleasure of delivering himself the good news to the Supreme Leader.”

The boy nods and types quickly. Finished, he takes a step back, his back straight and his arms bent behind his lower back and this time Mana copies him, if only with a more relaxed version. Maith just crosses her arms again.

A few seconds and the connection complete: holotransmitter blinks on and the life-sized hologram fizzles into existence on top of the table. The black outfit and the light-gray striped helmet are dyed a dirty blue, the edges fraying due to the strain in such distant connection. Hands at his sides, he has his head pitched to the side, the way it is his habit when in thought – but he then slowly turns to them.

He doesn't say anything.

He does not need to.

“We succeeded in the mission, Lord Kylo,” Mana says calmly, “we found out where Tekka is hiding.”

[ _Where_ ,] he asks, a gravelly hiss through the helmet and transmission.

“In the middle of nowhere,” SunYi says with laughter in his voice and Kylo turns his head to the blind man, “I hope you like sand and dead legacies.”

[ _I’m not in the mood for your antics,_ _SunYi. Do not test my patience._ ]

“Ooh, don’t tempt me, dearest friend, I might just do it,” the man replies with a smile, eyes closed, and before anyone can say or do anything he reaches inside his tunic and pulls out a small holopad that he lets flat on his palm. As if commanded, it flicks on and a hologram materializes above it.

A small rendered beige planet spin slowly.

Kylo turns fully to him, helmet turned to the holo. [ _Jakku_ ,] he murmurs.

And SunYi’s smile sharpens into a full bloom grin.

“Race you there, my Lord?”


End file.
